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3. Marine News - cont'd. Observers around the To ronto w a t e r f r o n t r e c e n t l y were treat ed to a rare view of the v e n e r a b l e pas s e n g e r steamer MINNE TO NK A. What's that, you say? There is no steam er by that name on the lakes or on To ronto Bay? Well, for a few short days in m i d - O ctober, there c e r t a i n l y was! H e a r t s t a r P roductions was filming scenes for a telev i s i o n mov ie e n t itled "Ench an tm en t" , w hich s u p p o s e d l y is based on a true story c o n c e r n i n g the latter years of the life of Samuel Clem e n s (Mark Twain), and the film stars J a s o n Robards and Talia Shire. Some of the scenes were i n t e n d e d to r e p resent events abo a r d the liner M I N N E T O N K A at sea, as wel l as at doc k at Lo n d o n and New York, all in 1907. Some of the sh ooting was done aboard J A D R A N (Captai n John' s H a r b o u r Boat Restaurant), but most of the m a r i n e scenes were fil me d aboard the e i g h t y - y e a r - o l d sidew he el f erry TRILLIUM. The latter, the largest of the Toronto Island ferries, had sets erec t e d on her pro m e n a d e and boat decks, and the boat deck even f e a t u r e d a s h u f f l e b o a r d court p a i n t e d on the deck i n g and i m i t a t i o n walls, co mplete w ith porth ol es , plac ed around T R I L L I U M ' s bow pi lothouse. A large w o o d e n s t a irway (stars shoul d not have to climb ladders) was built from the pro m deck aft to the boat deck, h i d d e n from vie w by the aft pil othouse. The fil mi ng ab o a r d T R I L L I U M was done on Oc tober 15 and 16, wit h the ship runn i n g for part of the time, but by the ev ening of October 17, all of the sets had been remo v e d and w o r k was u n d e r w a y on the l a ying-up of T R I L L I U M for the winter. The movie wi ll be scree n e d in 1991 via the D i s n e y or ga ni zation. As for TRILLIUM, we wonder whet h e r T. M . H . S. member Capt. Charles C o l enutt (TRI LL IU M' s maste r) will be f e atur ing s h u f f l e b o a r d on the boat deck w h e n T R I L L I U M does her harb o u r c ru ises during the summer of 1991... S hor t l y after m i d n i g h t in the ear ly m o r n i n g of Sunday, S e p t e m b e r 9th, the To ront o Island ferry THOM AS RE N N I E set out from Toro n t o for Whitby, where she arrived some five ho urs later and went on the d r y d o c k there. (Yes, the d ryd o c k still is ope rating, de spite m u n i c i p a l effor ts to make W h i t b y into a harb o u r for r e c r e a t i o n a l p u r poses o n l y . ) The RENNIE was there for su rvey and i n s p e c t i o n but, in addition, some ne w bu lkheads we re ins t a l l e d in the hull to c o n f o r m w ith curr en t regu la ti on s. The 3 9 - y e a r - o l d RENNIE arri v e d back in Toronto on Oc tober 9th, exac t l y one m o n t h after her de parture. Shor t l y thereafter, Met ro Parks & P r o p e r t y Depar t m e n t fe rry crews began ri ppin g out the old w o o d - f r a m e d windows in the R E N NIE's mai n ca bin so that Her b Fr aser & A s s o c i a t e s Ltd. could at t e n d to the i n s t a l l a t i o n of new windows similar to those that were ins t a l l e d in her older, n e a r - s i s t e r SAM M c B R I D E in the aut u m n of 1989. That pro ce ss involve s the w e l d i n g of long steel plates over the old w i n d o w openings, and then cutt i n g new op enings sized to a c c o m m o d a t e the n e w met al w i n d o w frames. At about 5: 00 p . m. on Tuesday, Oc tober 16th, while she was dock ed at I n d i a na Har bor on Lake Michigan, and loa di ng a cargo of m i l l s c a l e for d e l i v e r y to M i c h i p i c o t e n Harb o u r on Lake Superior, the Algoma Cent r a l Marine s e l f u n l o a d e r JOH N B. AIR D suffe r e d a serio us fire in the area of her cargoele v a t i n g belts. Local f i r e f i g h t e r s a t t e n d e d and got the flames under control, but as is typical in such incid en ts , it took qu ite a while to e x t i n g u i s h the blaze com pl et el y. In fact, it was not u ntil about 1 0 : 00 p. m. that the fire was c o n s i d e r e d to be out. At the time of this writing, we had no c o n f i r m a t i o n of the cause of the fire, but it was kno wn that Sand r i n Brothe rs Limited and Her b Fra se r & Associates Ltd. had been awar d e d con tracts for va rious aspects of the rep ai r job. The AIR D a r r i v e d at S ar ni a on O c t o b e r 21st and the re pair wor k was to begin the f o l l o w i n g day and was a n t i c i p a t e d to keep the ship tied up for at least four weeks. JOH N B. AIRD, 22881 Gross Tons, was built in 1983 by C o l l i n g w o o d Ship ya rd s Ltd. On Aug ust 1st, work e r s at the Al g o m a Steel plant at the C a n a d i a n Soo went out on strike. S u p e r v i s o r y staff kept cert a i n parts of the plant op erating, but w hen no set tl ement had been reac h e d by mid - O c t o b e r , the plant was clos ed and winterized. Next sprin g could be ver y quiet for shipp i n g into the plant unless a s e ttlement is reached.